sub-string

[Arindam Chakraborty <arch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

hello Ferreters,
	how to get a sub-string (or sub-word) from a symbol?
Say I write:
define symbol tt = `prec,return=tend` ! prec in the variable name
say ($tt)
 !-> MESSAGE/CONTINUE 01-SEP-1998 00:00
01-SEP-1998 00:00

Now I want only the first part of the result string, i.e., 01-SEP-1998
I tried something like this:
ppl set tt1 $element(1," ",($tt))
which results in a blank string tt1

Calling another go file with ($tt) as argument and then assessing $1
in that go file works. But is there any other way so that I get it in
the same file itself?

thanks in advance,

arindam

------------------------------------------
 ARINDAM CHAKRABORTY
 Centre for Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
 Indian Institute of Science
 Bangalore 560 012; INDIA
 Tel: 091-080-3942505, 091-080-3600450
 Fax: 091-080-3600865
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